Twitter Expands Video Monetization

Twitter is expanding video content monetization with pre-roll ads for video creators and now offers a new way for brands and creators to team up on live video.

Pre-Roll Ads

Creators of all sizes can now generate money from their video content through pre-roll ads, Twitter announced. The revenue split is 70 percent for creators, 30 percent for Twitter, according to numerous reports.

The ads will appear before a video plays. Twitter will have a skip button.

Twitter lets creators opt-in to the pre-roll ads either on a tweet-by-tweet basis, or by pre-setting video monetization. But first you’ll need to apply to Twitter’s Amplify program.

In addition, Twitter announced several upgrades to make monetization easier for creators through the new Media Studio (formerly video.twitter.com) and Twitter Engage app. These include:

A unified media library (videos, GIFs, and images).

Tweet scheduling and planning capabilities.

Team management and multi-account support.

Improvements in stability and upload performance.

An Earnings section in the Engage app.

Live Content & Highlights

Twitter’s Amplify ad program is letting Periscope users get sponsors for their live broadcasts. Pre-roll ads will appear before these live Periscope broadcasts begin.

In Twitter’s announcement, they shared this example of how retired tennis pro Andy Roddick is working with the brands Chase and Grey Goose on live broadcasts to provide expert commentary and answer viewer questions about this year’s U.S. Open:

“This campaign will appear in a few ways on Twitter: Periscope broadcasts will be shared through Tweets from @andyroddick, select broadcasts will appear as Promoted Tweets from the brand launch partners, and branded broadcast highlight videos will be tweeted by Andy and shared by the brand partners.”